Saturday, 17 May 2014

Stand Up Guys is a film that doesn’t know what it wants to be.
Stuck somewhere between a geriatric sub Apatow production and 70s crime drama,
it’s lost perilously at sea with a precious cargo of acting royalty desperately
trying to steer around an iceberg. Despite pulling in the same direction, they
go down with the ship. The S.S. Good
Riddance. Directed by Fisher Stevens and penned by Noah Haidle, the film
has at its centre an interesting premise but tonally it’s all off beam.
Twenty-eight years after a job that went badly wrong, Valentine or “Val” to his
friends (Al Pacino) is released from prison and into the welcoming arms of his
former partner in crime Doc (Christopher Walken). Having served half a lifetime
after a stray bullet accidentally ended the life of their bosses only son, Val
is keen to make up for lost time, lost steak and lost sex. He’s acutely aware
however that his time is limited and is expecting a hit on behalf of his still
grieving boss. The bullet he’s expecting is due to be expelled by the gun
hidden in his old friend Doc’s pocket, something Val also suspects.

With Alan Arkin joining an
already illustrious cast and a premise that sets up so much, the film still
somehow disappoints. The comedy is absolutely dire and produced just one laugh
(admittedly a large one) in the entire 95 minute runtime. Time that could have
been spent creating dramatic tension or allowing the great actors to spit
thick, gloopy dialogue is instead devoted to nob gags and wave after wave of
“Oh aren’t we old” jokes. I don’t know who is supposed to be enjoying it. If
you’re young and have no love for the actors then it doesn’t work. If you’re
young and have a great affinity for the actors then it’s simply sad and
embarrassing and if you’re older then you just aren’t going to be interested in
the Viagra stealing, Russian prostitute visiting humour. This is a movie aimed
at fifteen year old fans of forty year old movies. A lot of movies have been
produced recently which try to put a twist on the frat boy comedy by
introducing an older cast but it’s just uncomfortable. Seeing Michael Corleone,
Sonny Wortzik, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, Frank Serpico, Tony Montana,
bloody Al ‘8 Oscar nominations and 1 win’ Pacino pretending to go to hospital
because he can’t get rid of an erection? No. Just stop it. Enough.

Saturday, 12 January 2013

Originally released in the US
as one half of an exploitation double feature with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror under the name Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof was released in the UK as a single
feature. The film is a pastiche of the sort of cheap, exploitative thrillers
that found their way into certain cinemas before the advent of home video in
the 1980s. Tarantino purposely damaged the film stock causing rips, jumps and
scratches to make it look more like the kind of 1970s film that he was
recreating. The film also makes great use of cars and music from the era to
further recreate the 1970s feel.

Death Proof is
neatly split into two halves with both revolving around a deranged movie
stuntman called Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell). Mike appears to take joy in
stalking small groups of women, following them in his ‘Death Proof’ stunt car
before crashing into them. We see this take place twice but with very different
results. In the first instance Mike gets to know his potential victims in a bar
in Austin, Texas first whereas in the second half his
appearance is more of a surprise and fuels a revenge filled final few minutes.
I thought Death Proof was ok and with
any Tarantino release there is a lot to like but for me there are vast swathes
of dull, un-Tarantino like dialogue and it sits towards the bottom of his
filmography in terms of how much I liked it and how likely I am to watch it
again.